Postcard from Cardinals camp for Tuesday, Feb. 26

High: The Cardinals’ offense exploded for the second consecutive day In pounding the Red Sox in Ft. Myers. Matt Adams came off the bench to launch a two-run homer over the center field fence, then stayed in the game and collected a third RBI with a bases-loaded walk … Jaime Garcia made his first start of the spring and showed why he is not concerned about his shoulder, working two innings in which he allowed three hits, walked one and struck out two. He made 43 pitches, 30 of which were strikes.

Low: It was a typical Red Sox game, meaning slow. The time of game was close to four hours, sandwiched in between a three-hour bus ride each way. The Cardinals’ team bus left Jupiter at 7:30 a.m. and was not expected back until after 8 p.m.

On the field: Adams was not the only offensive star. Ryan Jackson and Tony Cruz also had three RBI each, and Oscar Taveras was 3-for-5 with an RBI. Justin Christian, battling for the final outfield spot on the roster, reached base three times on two hits, including a double, and a walk and added two RBI … Eduardo Sanchez threw another perfect inning of relief with two strikeouts … All four Red Sox runs were unearned, thanks to throwing errors by pitcher Marc Rzepczynski and second baseman Starlin Rodriguez.

Off the field: Back in Jupiter, where most of the regulars worked out before hitting the golf course, Rafael Furcal took his turn in the batting cage hitting left-handed. He is pleased by how his elbow is responding to a shot he received last Friday and believes he might be ready to play in games as early as this weekend. “We’re going step by step because we don’t want to rush,” Furcal said, “doing a little more every day.”

Coming up: The Cardinals will be on the road again on Wednesday, playing the Mets in Port St. Lucie. Almost of the Cardinals’ regulars will make that trip with Lance Lynn scheduled to make his first start of the spring and first since his 40-pound weight loss over the winter.

Comments

Its early , though I dont have much faith in Rzepczynski, Yes he improved the last 2 months of last season, by that time the team was so far back of the Reds it did not matter..He just is not that pitcher that came over in a trade. All of the relief pitchers should be year to year, unless you have a sure thing.